Rockford-area supporters join Springfield rally for gay marriage

Two years ago, Lori Judkins was stunned when her daughter came out as a lesbian.

But in the span of 24 months, Judkins said she’s gone from “deer in headlights to activist.”

The DeKalb resident, a lifelong Catholic and member of the Diocese of Rockford, joined in a Springfield rally today to show support for the legalization of gay marriage in Illinois. Lawmakers started their annual two-week veto session and could take action on major unresolved issues including same-sex marriage.

Local gay marriage supporters traveled on a bus today to Springfield from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rockford.

Misha Lentz, 40, and her daughter, Kadison Lentz, 12, of Huntley, were among them. The bus was to pick up supporters in Peoria, and about 20 people were expected to ride.

“It’s time to stop treating people like they are second-class citizens, and it’s time that they get full rights,” Lentz said in explaining her support. She said she brought her daughter with her with a few things in mind. Among them: “I don’t want her to ever ask the question, ‘What did you do for the cause?’ ”

Gerry Oehring, 77, of Rockford also was on the bus. He said he marched in the civil rights movement in 1965 and had bricks thrown at him so people of color could marry someone of another race and could live and go to school where they want to. “I think it’s about time Chuck Jefferson returned that favor to me,” Oehring said of the black Democratic state representative from Rockford.

David Kraemer, ministerial intern at Unitarian Universalist, said the multi-denominational church doesn’t believe in separate but equal when it comes to marriage. He added that he often takes the rights he enjoys as a married heterosexual man for granted.

Joining the group Catholics for Marriage Equality at today’s rally became even more personally important for Judkins when her daughter — 22-year-old Debi Judkins — got engaged this past weekend.

“We’re really getting out there and hoping they will be able to be married and not just have a civil union because there are still some things that aren’t just the same,” Lori Judkins said.

According a Pew Research Center study out in the spring, 53 percent of Catholics support marriage for same-sex couples. Speaking on the issue of same-sex marriage earlier this year, Bishop David Malloy of the Rockford Diocese said Catholics “respect and support the protection of the fundamental human relationship that confirms the complementary nature that we bear. That is, marriage as an exclusive commitment between a man and a woman.”

Judkins said she’s found a supportive parish at the Newman Center in DeKalb where she wears a rainbow fish pin when attending Mass each Sunday.

“They can only be so welcoming because of the (stance of the) diocese, but they’ve never said anything against gay families,” she said.

Judkins has more confidence that the Illinois Legislature will adopt a more accepting stance of gay marriage than the Catholic church.

“I can’t see how with all those people down there, that the government of Illinois can just ignore it,” she said.